Advancing a Reforestation Project Under the CCAR

Forest Values and Carbon Markets: Opportunities for Minnesota Gerry Gray, American Forests February 26, 2009 Advancing a Reforestation Project Under the CCAR

A Reforestation Project Opportunity
Settlement Agreement between ConocoPhillips and CA Attorney General (September 10, 2007)
Reforestation project must be done in accordance with CCAR Forest Project Protocol

Exploring the Opportunity: California Climate Change Policies
California Climate Action Registry (2000)
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act (2002)
California Global Warming Solutions Act (2006)

Exploring the Opportunity: California Climate Change Policies
Forest Project Protocol
Forest Sector Protocol
Forest Certification Protocol

Forest Project Protocol (2007)
Eligible Project Types
Reforestation
Conservation-Based Management
Conservation

Global ReLeaf
Environmental education and citizen action
Raise funds from individuals and companies
Grants for restoration tree planting projects
Planted over 25 million trees since 1990
Estimate carbon benefits as one ecosystem service

Reforestation Project Challenges
Lands must have been forests historically, but out of forest cover for at least 10 years.
Did not allow reforestation after disturbance
Required a permanent conservation easement.
Time-consuming and costly.
Public lands were ineligible.
Our work focused on public land reforestation.

A Public Land Reforestation Project
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
Re-establish patches of native conifer trees for progression of reforestation.
Cedar Fire (2003) destroyed native forests on 24,000 acres, with little natural regeneration.
Ceanothis cover has replaced native forest and is expected to dominate in future.
CA DPR, Cal Fire, San Diego State University, and U. of CA, Santa Barbara.

Cuyamaca Reforestation Project
Carbon Offset Quantity and Accounting
Benefits come from accelerated restoration of forested landscape.
DPR and Cal Fire will register project with CCAR.
Additional CO2 reductions estimated to be 504,075 metric tons over 100 years.

Cuyamaca Reforestation Project
Co-Benefits
Habitat for native mammal and bird species.
Prevent spread of invasive weeds.
Reduce erosion risks.
Protect watershed function, archealogical sites, botanical reserves, and recreational capacity.

Revising the CA Forest Protocol
Year-long, multi-stakeholder workgroup process
Allow greater landowner participation, particularly public lands and industrial working forests.
Improve the protocols' clarity, accuracy, conservatism, environmental integrity, and cost-effectiveness.
Revised Forest Project Protocol
Released draft in December 2008.
Expected to be considered by CCAR Board in April 2009.
In addition, the workgroup continues to explore other issues, such as the treatment of harvested wood products.

Eligible forest project types (non-urban)
Reforestation
Improved Forest Management
Avoided Conversion
Reforestation—major changes
. . . less than 10% canopy for a minimum of 10 years, or have been subject to a significant disturbance within the last 10 years.
A significant disturbance is defined as the loss of 20% of the project area’s forest carbon stocks.
This project type may apply on both private and public lands.

Additionality
Determined by reference to a discrete, forward-looking quantitative baseline estimate of business-as-usual carbon stocks.
Project Implementation Agreement
An agreement between landowner and the Reserve, not necessarily requiring a conservation easement. (Public lands are exempt.)
Project Location
All forestry-based GHG projects located on public and private lands in the U.S. are eligible to register with the Reserve.

Permanence
Projects must insure against reversals
Contribute to a Climate Reserve buffer pool, or
Take out insurance with an approved provider.
Annual monitoring reports
Third party verification

Change and Opportunity
Climate change will bring physical and biological changes.
Climate change policy will bring regulatory and market changes.
CCAR and other offset programs present voluntary-market opportunities.
Multi-level policy discussions present opportunity for learning and advocacy.

RVCC Climate Change Principles
Develop and fund opportunities for climate change research, education, and monitoring.
Create federal climate policies that protect the most vulnerable populations, as well as climate-sensitive public goods.
Integrate climate change mitigation with forest restoration efforts.
Foster mitigation through forest carbon-offset markets and ecosystem services.
Promote green jobs.

American Forests and Global ReLeaf information at:
www.americanforests.org
Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition information at: www.sustainablenorthwest.org

Advancing a Reforestation Project Under the CCAR

by Becky LaPlant on Mar 04, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 1

Statistics

Advancing a Reforestation Project Under the CCAR — Presentation Transcript